We need your blood. It gives us nourishment. It helps keep us alive.
Well, it’s a collective we, in a fairly broad sense. This blog site itself doesn’t need your blood. Our friends, families, neighbors, and the people we pass by on a daily basis need your blood.
Little bit of a back story. I’ve been donating blood and blood products on and off since I was 18. Not bad really. I stopped donating blood for a few years because my iron was low and I didn’t feel like taking vitamins. Ah, to be young again. Then a few years later, I decided to “donate” plasma. I got paid $50 a week, so it wasn’t really donating. A few years ago, I found a place that wasn’t the Red Cross to go to donate. I didn’t donate for a few months, and they called me because they needed my blood.
So I have Rh negative blood. Which means more people can use my blood, but I can’t receive any Rh positive blood. In the United States, approximately 85% of people have Rh positive blood, leaving the remaining 15% to have Rh negative. The chart above shows the compatibility of blood types. As you can see, everyone can receive O neg blood, but if you have O neg blood you can only receive O neg. AB+ blood types can take blood from everyone, but no other type can use theirs.
A statistic that kinda shocked me when I read it was that only 37% of the population of the United States is eligible to donate, but less than 10% actually do. If just 2-5% more of the eligible people donated, there would be no blood and blood products shortage.
It’s just not surgery and emergency cases that need blood. People with blood disorders like sickle cell need it. Cancer patients rely on it. It really became personally for me last year. I had 3 family members diagnosed with cancer. So far, all of them are doing well and beating the odds! Last month when I went to donate whole blood, I was wearing a shirt I made when my brother had cancer. It reads “Beat cancer so hard, it cries for its mama.”
A nurse saw my shirt and asked if I ever donated platelets. When I said no, he asked me if would like to and then explained the process. Since I donated plasma before and the process is similar, I understood it quickly. I’ve donated platelets twice now. You can donate platelets every 2 weeks. It does take longer than blood. When donating blood, it might take you about 10-15 minutes to fill the bag. When donating platelets, depending on your platelet count, you might be hooked up to the machine for hour or two. My second donation was 88 minutes and I forgot to charge my phone. Lesson learned.
Another donation story, a guy came in who was petrified of needles. He reminded the nurses about his needle phobia. You could see his anxiety through his shaking legs. They helped as best he could. While he was there, an older gentleman about late 70s to early 80s came in to donate double blood. I was stunned. When the first guy left, another older gentleman came in. All the chairs were full towards the end of my donation. Which was awesome! Considering there is a blood shortage in the US.
Why do it if it takes up so much of my time? Easy. I’m helping to save lives. Might be a child or someone’s parent. An hour here or there is a small sacrifice to make for the difference it can make. Plus, they give you juice and cookies after! Sometimes they even give a free gift for scheduling again. How can you pass that up?
Made Dames 